1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a machine for horizontally manufacturing flexible sheet material packagings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various machines of the type indicated above are known. So, for example, document WO 2005/120960, published on 22 Dec. 2005, describes a machine of this type. For its part, document EP 1.743.839, published 17 Jan. 2007, describes a machine that uses a gas to decontaminate the flexible sheet material before it is preformed. Other similar machines are described in documents EP 1.245.493, published 2 Oct. 2002, ES 2.068.463, published 13 May 2002, ES 2.255.815, published 1 Jul. 2006, and ES 2.127.939, published 29 May 1996.
Nevertheless, there is a constant demand to increase the useful life of packaged goods, so that they can be stored for a longer time. This requires increasing the quality of the decontamination and/or reducing the risk of possible contamination after packaging.
Also, handling a decontamination gas is a complicated process as usually gases that are more or less toxic or irritant to the human body are used, and therefore there is also a permanent interest in improving and facilitating the handling of the decontaminating gas and increasing the safety of the machine operators.